Great Thai food website

I just stumbled on an excellent website dedicated to all aspects of Thai food: The Thai Table.

I like the site because of the authors' depth of knowledge and clarity of expression. Also, each recipe entry includes realistic-looking photo illustrations that actually show you how the developing dish might look in your kitchen--as opposed to food-styled images that are included more for aesthetics than instruction.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet. The first on my list of items to try is the fried whole fish with tamarind--in addition to looking tasty, this recipe page is a good example of how the authors use photos and prose to demystify recipes that might otherwise seem daunting.

Comments

[zuzu]

It looks great, but where are the ingredient lists for the recipes?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

That is a problem on some pages, but I think most of the recipes that you can click on from the sidebar and top bar of the homepage have ingredient lists.

Like these ones (which are on my agenda to try once I actually feel hungry--the tripple whammy of sadness, heat, and stress is really cutting into my motivation to cook):

Chicken Curry, Shrimp and Garlic Flowers, and Green Papaya Salad.

[zuzu]

Maybe it's my browser, but I can't see ingredient lists for any of those, either.

[zuzu]

Maybe it's my browser, but I can't see ingredient lists for any of those, either. Which is a shame, because it looks like a great resource.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

The site almost always shows up in Firefox.

But the real upshot is that you should come over and cook with me. :)

[cfrost]

I've got firefox for a browser and it all works fine. Now I'll just wipe the drool off the keyboard and head for the kitchen.

[zuzu]

I *have* Firefox, though a slightly dated version.

And I should come over and cook with you.

[mudkitty]

LB - L.A. has one of the best thai-towns in the country. Let me know if you're ever in L.A.

[cfrost]

L.A. has one of the best thai-towns in the country.

I’ll bet it does. Along with all those fabulous oriental grocery stores that always make me wish I knew something about cooking. Also probably some of the best Indian restaurants and markets; another cuisine I’m pretty much crazy about.

I’m old enough to remember when there was no such thing as Thai restaurants in the U.S. Now, while the website lists nothing in the way of eateries or markets near my zip code (rural), there’s still Thai food to be had served out of a little yellow trailer at a crossroads on the way into town. Their Thai iced-tea on a hot July day is powerfully refreshing. Thai food’s everywhere now: there’s even a nice Thai restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon (you’ll smell the feedlot and potato processing plant as you drive by) in a place that was formerly a steakhouse. - Cowboy/western décor: seats w/ cowhide pattern, wall-mounted longhorns, sign in front perched on a column of aluminum beer barrels.

I guess some sort of critical mass was reached in the early 80’s when our little adventure in Vietnam produced enough GIs that had been to Bangkok on R & R or whatever, and enough Thai immigrants to make it happen. Curiously, Vietnamese food, while common enough in large cities never took off the same way. I’m not sure why, Vietnamese food is great too. Too much fish for American tastes?

I was hoping that our Iraq fiasco would at least seed America with Iraqi restaurants. –Surely there must be an Iraqi cuisine, and I’ll bet it’s good. Unfortunately, BushCo won’t admit Iraqi immigrants, as to do so might be an admission that there’s something amiss with the Freedom© and Democracy© we brought to Iraq.

[mudkitty]

We should be supporting the Iraqis by buying Iraqi food, no? (Not to mention supporting their refugees.) What is Iraqi food, anyway?

I understand and love basic middle eastern cuisine, but I'm sure that regional differences make all the difference.

Someone should open an Iraqi restaurant in New York City! I'm sure there are plenty in Detroit.

Out here in L.A., Armenian food is the basic standard for middle eastern food. Plus a few scattered "Greek" places.

[mudkitty]

Oh yes! I forgot, we have a couple of Moroccan places...one very distinguished place, in fact.

[mudkitty]

But Thai is the tits and the ass.

[mudkitty]

But Thai is the tits and the ass.

[Terry Karney]

Lindsay, come to L.A. It's a great town for cooking and eating.

I added this to my list of food sites.

If you ever want to cook when your in L.A., you know how to get ahold of me.

[Terry Karney]

cfrost: I think the problem with Vietnamese is the apparent oddity. Being in L.A. I have lots of Vietnamese (and Thai, and Ethiopian, and Mexican, Chinese, Salvadoreño,Indian, Afgani, Japanese, Morrocan, Persian, Korean, Greek, Russian, vegetarian, and even NY Deli (though the bagels aren't quite the same... something about the water; I think).

Very delicate, even things like Pho; which has combinations most people aren't familiar with. Add ingredients lists of tripe, sinew, tendon and the like, well a restaurant is a really risky way to make a living (about 50 percent failure rates), and after a few people can't get started, who wants to risk it, when a nail-parlor is a lot more certain.

mudkitty: I can find you a lot of interesting places. I know a couple of Lebanese places (one in the San Gabriel Valley, one in Orange) as well as Persian and Morrocan. I know people who know of all sort of Balkan and Turkish and North African, as well as middle eastern.

The Afghan place I mentioned above is in Pasadena. Very good.

Iraqi food is much like "generic" middle eastern. Flatbreads and chicken dishes, lamb and rice. Eggplant, tomatoes, olive oil. There's a "Mediterranean" restaurant, Zatar, in Berkeley (yeah, not quite local) run by an Iraqi epat. One of the nice things about is that they grow a lot of the vegetables they use (a la Chez Panisse).

[zuzu]

Aha. It was my browser's version -- I'm at work now, with a newer version of Firefox, and I can see everything.

[cfrost]

Vietnamese and Thai, and Ethiopian, and Mexican, Chinese, Salvadoreño,Indian, Afgani, Japanese, Morrocan, Persian, Korean, Greek, Russian, vegetarian, and even NY Deli

Sigh. (Stomach rumbles.)

[Terry Karney]

cfrost: Come to town, we'll do lunch.

[mudkitty]

Yeah.